All-in-one pelagic processing for Skinney from Skaginn
Skaginn says it has delivered a new pelagic processing system to Skinney Thinganes hf, located on the east cost of Iceland. The company is a large processor of pelagic products and recently decided to upgrade its processing system.
It reports that freezing capacity at Skinney has now increased thanks to a better volume/weight ratio in the new and more economical freezing trays. The number of operators has also been reduced ‘drastically’ as the system is now fully automatic.
The system is made up of three, fully automatic weighing and packing systems. Each weighing system has capacity of eight portions/minute and with 13kg portions the capacity is approximately 140 MT/24H each system. At Skinney the system is integrated with the excising processing system along with automatic plate freezers and palletizing system which Skaginn already had in place.
The system guidelines include gentle handling in all processing stages and freezing with minimal pressure on product, minimal give-away weight and minimum packing costs. The operators now have an inspection role.
Infeed, weighing & packing
The product is weighed into the processing line and the infeed is controlled by feedback from the weighing systems. This means correct quantity in the weighing tubs which maximises the weighing systems efficiency. This section has hopper scales and infeed conveyors. By weighing the infeed volume as well as volume in the tubs, the level in the tubs is controlled. In turn, this gives the optimal level for the weighing and packing system. The overall process yield is constantly monitored and controlled.
The weighing system offers portion correction with a rejection option. It is based on a ‘floating target’ so the system aims to maintain an average target for a number of the last portions inside predefined tolerances. This reduces give-away, and means lower freezing costs and smooth automatic infeed to the plate freezers.
There is one fully automatic packing machine in combination with each weighing unit. The plastic bag for packing is supplied continuously allowing the product to be delivered automatically into the ready-made plastic bag which in turns is automatically delivered to a freezing tray.
Skaginn says the automatic Samifi Plate Freezers cope well at freezing heavy portions and have a large capacity and operate continuously. Each freezer has a capacity of 1,000 freezing trays for each load and can handle loading and unloading 10 times every 24 hours. The process is automatic and designed for minimal pressure on product. The freezing bags are closed so moisture from the product is minimal and this mean the freezers only need to be defrosted once a week. The transport system is designed specially to handle Skaginn’s new HDPE, plastic freezing tray, designed by Skaginn. The guidelines for the design are minimal freezing time and most economic weight/volume ratio.
Pallet system
The pallet system is fully automatic and takes blocks in plastic bags or in cartons. The blocks are placed crosswise in layers and one operator can handle the process. When the pallet is loaded it is automatically transferred by a small truck to a plastic foil wrap-around machine and it is then ready for transport to freezer storage. The modular pallet system can be expanded according to need, with one module able to cope with one weighing and packing line in combination with one automatic plate freezer. Different product types are separated by a colour sensor and automatically directed to the appropriate palletizing module.
Skaginn says it also offers total solutions for on-board pelagic processing for human consumption. They now offer the pallet system for on-board use and their new, product elevator means wrapped pallets can be stored in the hold to save time and effort when landing.
